Inexplicably the City of Alameda has decided to start streetscape improvements on Park Street starting in mid-October. Normally I would totally applauding the City sprucing up Park Street, but the timing seems a bit odd.
According to the press release the work will be performed on Park Street between Central and San Jose and will start from mid-October and end in March. The press release notes that:
Construction work hours are restricted from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. The contractor will keep one lane of traffic open at all times, but motorists may experience minor disruptions in traffic as well as minor increases in noise level and dust during construction. Bus stop access and access to businesses will be maintained throughout the project duration. There will be temporary loss of on-street parking.
For Park Street shoppers, some of the best shopping is found on on that particular stretch of street: Books Inc, Daisy’s, Tuckers, Happy Feet, Monkey Bars, Dog Bone Alley etc… Not to mention a whole host of new restaurants that have cropped up as well. It seems like this construction scheduled was short sighted in light of the upcoming holiday season. It’s no secret that most retailers do really well during the holiday season and sometimes the holiday sales are what sustain small businesses through the rough patches. Particularly in this down economy, I imagine that every cent will count for local and small business and certainly construction and loss of on street parking along with congestion due to the construction won’t help any.
Also given that this season is generally the most unpredictable — weather wise — further delays could be in the future due to rain. I’m not sure what the Park Street Business Association’s stance is on this, but honestly they should be advocating for the delay of this construction in order to not interfere with their members high volume sales season.
Fortunately Tot Tank has been spared for our holiday shopping needs, but that’s cold consolation in light of all the other stores that will have their access extremely limited.
The timing could put some of these stores out of business. It would be interesting to know who is charged with representing their interests with the city and finding out if there was any consideration of 4th quarter timing on their future.
Comment by Sylvia Kahn — October 6, 2011 @ 6:22 am
With Kaiser there is also less parking on side streets than there used to be. Luckily, I can walk there. Used the garage at the theatre yesterday at about 5 and it was pretty full.
Comment by Denise Shelton — October 6, 2011 @ 6:31 am
I was visited in my studio (1200 block of Park St) by a city employee who stopped by to drop off an information sheet. Glancing at it briefly, I had the same reaction- “You’re going to do WHAT during the holidays?” and was told that, of course, they would stop work during the holiday shopping period. Why couldn’t they just say that on the info sheet?
Furthermore, the areas (including my block) that are slated for construction now are going to have parking kiosks installed, like they have in Oakland. I HATE this things, and I think it will drive business away from downtown. Of course, the city is doing it to streamline the collection process, but it also will increase the city’s parking revenues (after the kiosks have been paid off, of course). If you’ve never had to use one, you put in your money and get a paper receipt that says what time your parking expires (based on the amount of money you have paid, and what time it was when you paid). You put this receipt on your dash so it’s visible to the parking tech. The challenge is that if you are having a meal or getting your hair done, and you are running dangerously close to the expired time, you have to time it just right to get back to the kiosk and pay for more parking at the time it expires. Let’s say you buy one hour of parking, and after 45 minutes you realize that’s not going to be enough time. So if you go back to the kiosk between your main course and dessert, or between having your hair washed and sitting under the dryer, if you get there 35 minutes after and buy more parking, whatever amount you buy starts at that instant, and you lose the 10 minutes left over on your original receipt.
My area and the area above Lincoln are the poor stepchildren of the Park Street Business Association. We get very little in the way of services or consideration. We get no Street Fairs, no Car Shows, little in the way of sidewalk sweeping. Our planters were stolen from our area to be put around Fire Station One. We don’t get a parking structure for our clients. In fact, the Encinal/Park St area lost 30 spots when they reconfigured the turning lanes there several years ago. Forgive me, I’m just blowing off steam.
Sylvia, the Park Street Business Association is charged with representing our interests. We all pay a mandatory fee in addition to our business license for the Business Improvement Area. Rob Ratto is the Executive Director. In the past, I have shown up at Board meetings to express my views, and they have said that I’m out of order. Bitter? Maybe. Hellraiser? Definately.
Comment by Not. A. Alamedan — October 6, 2011 @ 9:13 am
I do not recall the exact details – aging and too many concussions will do that to a person – but recall that the timing was discussed at a few City Council meetings recently. I believe that the funding was due to expire or be withdrawn unless unless the City of Alameda started construction in 2011 and/or completed the project by early 2012. (I have a call into Public Works to verify this.)
Comment by Jon Spangler — October 6, 2011 @ 9:32 am
The City has money for this but not for the utility undergrounding it has mandated?
Comment by nemo — October 6, 2011 @ 9:48 am
Amazing! Some of you have actually grown the stones to COMPLAIN about the Alameda Esablishment! Welcome to the Vigilante’s World.
Comment by vigi — October 6, 2011 @ 12:27 pm
Is the particular stretch of Park Street that is impacted represented on the PSBA board? Books Inc, Daisy’s, Tuckers, Happy Feet, Monkey Bars, Dog Bone Alley etc… may need to unite and change the board (or executive director) if you are paying dues and not getting accurate information.
Comment by Dan — October 6, 2011 @ 1:35 pm
5:
Nemo, the Park Street Vision streetscape work is funded by a grant from MTC that is based on transit-related upgrades. The utility undergrounding is a completely separate program with completely different financing.
Comment by Jon Spangler — October 7, 2011 @ 8:38 am
Re parking kiosks– I LOVE having them in Oakland and Berkeley. They take credit cards! No more searching around for pocket change for a meter, and you can put in as much time as you actually think you will need for shopping or whatever, not how much change you happen to have and then hurry to get back. I will never use the ones on Park Street because I live a block away, but I think it is a big improvement. I would love it if they put them on Webster. I am glad that they are starting the project in time for the funds. The visioning project was so long ago that I don’t think many people who have recently moved here are aware that Park Street improvements are the outcome of that process of planning.
Comment by Kevis Brownson — October 8, 2011 @ 9:00 am
P.S. Come to the Car Show today and stop at the 1200 block of Park Street (south of Encinal) on your way and visit open businesses there, including Not A Alamedan’s studio if open. Good places to eat in that block– Julie’s, Dragon Rouge, Dimitra’s.
Comment by Kevis Brownson — October 8, 2011 @ 9:10 am
Kevis, I agree about the kiosks. I never have the right change, which means you have to go back to the meter and plug it if you just put what little you had in and it wasn’t enough. It is true that each parker has to start anew, and so you don’t get that “extra bonus” of finding a meter with time on it (eureka!) but the convenience is good for people such as I who never have much change. I really feel for Barbara Mooney and the other retailers who will be impacted by the street closure at holiday shopping time and wish the City could come up with some creative solution to help with that part of the work.
Comment by Kate Quick. — October 8, 2011 @ 11:12 am
Yikes … many of the trees are gone!
http://alameda.patch.com/articles/trees-coming-down-on-park-street
Comment by alameda — October 21, 2011 @ 10:56 am